Time-indicating system.



A. A. RADTKE.

TIME INDIGATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION IILED mm: 29, 1908. RENEWED JAN. 25, 1909.

Patented May 11, 1909,

2 SHEBTSSHEET 1.

fo y 6:

a4] 45 L we Y EM i5 F BUM E H n H WA E Wneasas I JCT/1% A. A. RADTKE.

TIME INDICATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 29, 1908. RENEWED JAN. 25, 1909.

921%861 Patented May 11, 1909,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Mm Inven U1" E mm 3 AWE E UNITED STATES PATENT ent es.

ALBERT A. RADTKE, OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

'rnm-mnrca'rme SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1 i, 1909.

Application filed June 29, 1908, Serial No. 140,848. Renewed January 26,1909. Serial No. 476,352.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, ALBERT A. RADTKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chlcago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful ,Im rovement in Time-IndicatingSystems, ass 3,) of which the following is a full, clear, concise, andexact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specificatron.

My invention relates to time indicating s stems and has for its objectim roved e ectrical control for systems in w ich a plurality of timeindicating devices are controlled by a master clock.

In my system I employ contact mechanism comprising a plurality ofcontact sets, this contact mechanism being driven by the clockwork ofthe master clock so that the contact sets are actuated in E'opersequence and at proper intervals. ach time indicating device comprisestime indicating mechanism, an armature connected with thetimeindicati-ng mechanism and a plurality of electro-magnets for causingrotation of the armature. The electro-magnets are arranged about thearmature so that 'if energized repeatedlyin successive order, thearmature will be rotated to drive the time indicating mechanism. Foreach electromagnet there is a circuit-closing contact set \at the masterclock. An electrical supply source is also connected with the contactmechanism and with the time indicating units. The circuit arrangement issuch that p the indicating contacts of the time indicatin mechanisms arealways under the lcontro of the electro-magnets and are, therefore,always ke t in synchronism with the master clock indicating hands. Thedriving relation between the various parts can be adjusted to suitablyadjust theincrement of movement of the minute hand of the indicatingmechanism. The arrangement is preferably such that the interval ofactuation s one minute. The contact mechanism is therefore driven toclose a contact set every minute so that the electro-magnets aresuccessively energized at minute intervals so that the minute hands willmove once a minute from one minute mark to another.

My invention will be clearly understood when described with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 1s a plan view of a timeindicating minute hands of a time indicating unit,

Fig. 6 shows diagrammatically the circuit arrangements for the system,and Fig. 7 shows a modified circuit arrangement.

Each time indicating unit has an annular field frarre 1 from whichextend radial poles, of any number, three being shown and lettered 2, 2and 2, placed 120 degrees apart, On these poles are the energizingwindings 3 3 and 3 respectively, and secured'to the top and bottom sidesof the field fraine are the upper and lower spider frames 4 and 5, whichare preferably of non-magnetic material, but which may be of any form soas to provide upper and lower bearing frames 6 and 7 in which is pivotedasleeve 8 to which is keyed the armature 9 as shown. The armature is inthe form of an iron frame having the four polar extensions 10, 90degrees apart for cooperating'with the field poles 2. At the lower endof the sleeve 8 is formed a pinion 11. Extending through the sleeve 8 isthe shaft 12, to whose lower end directly below the pinion 1 1 is pinnedthe gear 13. A hearing stud or screw 14 extends downwardly from theframe 5 adjacent the pinion and gear 11 and 12, and on said shaft arepivoted gears 15 and 16, connected rigidly together, gear 15 meshingwith pinion 11 and gear 16 meshing with gear 13 so that upon rotation ofthe armature and of the sleeve 8,-

the shaft 1.2 will be rotated, this shaft having a square upper end 17for receiving the minute hand 18.. Pinned to" the shaft 12 directly uponthe sleeve 8 is a sleeve 19, at

whose upper end is formed a pinion 20. Extending upwardly from andparallel with the frame 4 is a bracket 21, between which and the frame 4is pivoted the arbor 22. On this arbor 22'is a eeve 23 carrying the gear24 and pinion 25, the gear 24 meshing with the pinion 20. Pivoted onshaft 12 directly abovethe pinion 20 is a sleeve 26 carrying at itslower end the gear 27 which meshes with the pinion '25, and at the upperend of this sleeve the hour hand 28 is suitably secured. The rotation ofthe armature is trans titted through this gearing train just describedto the hour hand. Lugs 29 extend outwardly and upwardly from the fieldframe and at the top of these lugs is supported a dialplate 30 havingthe usual ti are characters.

The mechanism thus far described is contained in a cylindrical case 31to whose cylindrical wall the lugs 29 on the field frame are.

secured. fhis casing, if of magnetic material, will form a secondaryfield frame. A cover for the casing coisprisesan annular frame'32 inwhich the glass plate 33 is held. The conductors for connectlng theinclosed parts with the internal circuit may enter through suitableopenings 34 in the base of the inclosing case.

The master clock arrangement is shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The masterclock can be of any construction and is shown as comprising the housing35 on which is mounted a dial 36 over which travel the hour and minutehands 37 and 38. Clock mechanism 39 within the housing connects with thehandsin a wellknown manner. Suitably secured from the housing wall is asupporting block 40 of insulating material on which are mounted aplurality of contact springs 41 41", 41" and 41. Suitably pivotedbetween the clockwork and the contact springs is a shaft 42 on which isinounted a complete contact collar 43 permanently enga ed by the contactspring 4 1. Adjacent the collar 43 is a segmental /contact member 43,adjacent which contact member is a similar contact member 43", andadjacent which segment 43 is another'siinilar segment 43 Also secured tothe shaft 42 is a pinion 44 which has gearing connection with theclockworks of the master clock. The contact segments 43 43*, 43 aredisplaced 120 degrees, and each extends throug -grees so that they willoverlap, and so that one contact spring will make firm engagement withits contact segment before the preceding spring and contact segment become disengaged. Extending from the contact springs 41*, 41 and 41 arethe conductors 45 45 and 45, and extending from contact spring 41 is theconductor 45.

In Fig. 6 the simplest circuit arrangement is shown, in which theconductors 45, 45*, and 45 extend to one terminal of the field windings3, 3 and 3 of the various indicating devices, which are connected inmulti le. The other terminals of rthe fn'indings 0 each indicatingdevice are'connected together through a common conductor 46, and thesecommon conductors are all connected with conductor 45 leading from thecommon spring 41, said conductor 45 including the source of current suchas a battery 47. The operation is apparent. With the various an areslightly greater than 120 de ,parts in the position shown in thefigures, the spring 41 and contact 43 are in connection, and in eachindicating device the pole of the armature is opposite the field pole 2,whose energizing winding 3 is energized through the circuit leading frombattery 47, through conductor 45, through s ring 41 of the contactcollar 43, through shaft 42 to contact member 43, through spring 41,through conductor 45, through t e field coils 3% of the variousindicating devices, through the common conductors 46, back to theconductor 45, and to the battery. The shaft 41 is driven in thedirection as indicated by the arrow and before contact 43" leaves spring41, contact'43 will come into engagement with spring 41", and theenergizing coils 3 of the indicating devices will become energizedthrough the circuit which includes the conductor 45*. Jhe armatures,however, will not be rotated until contact 43" leaves spring 41 to openthe,circuit to conductor 45*. When this circuit is broken the coils 3*cause the adjacent poles of the armatures to be attracted, and thearmatures rotate in a clockwise direction, and the rotation of thearmatures is communicated through the various gearing mechanisms to thehour and minute hands. The armatures are, therefore, always under thecontrol of their field frames and their movement in synchronism witheach other and with the controlling contactmechanism of the master clockis assured. Before contact 43 leaves the spring 41*, contact 41 1011comes into engagement with spring 41 and coils 3 become energized, andeventually cause the further rotation of the armatures. Any number ofpoles and energizing windings could be provided for each indicating 105unit, and each armature could have any number of projections. I findthat three field windings cooperating with. the armature of four polarextensions gives very satisfactor Y and efficient operation. The gear-110 ing re ation between the master clock and the pinion 44' ispreferably such that the shaft 42 is rotated 130 degrees each minute.The armatures are, therefore, given one advancement every minute, thatis the arma- 11:) tures are advanced 30 degrees each minute. In order tohave the minute hands of the indicating units moved a minutes space or 6degrees for each advancement of the armatures, the gearing train betweenthe arm'a- 12o 'ture sleeve 8 and the shaft 12 should be adjusted tohave a gearing relation of 5 to 1. Also to give the hour hand the pro errelative advancement the gearing train etween the shaft 12 andsleeve 26should be adjusted 1 2-3 to have a gearing relation of 60 to 1, or inother words, the gearing relation between the armature sleeve 8 and thesleeve 26 should be 300 to 1. Each minute, therefore,

one of the contact sets at the master clock cause a will close and theminute hands of the indicatin units will advance one minute.

In ig. 7 is shown a modified circuit anrangement which is preferablyused wheres great number of indlcatingunits are used on a circuit, andWhere the current flow would have to be considerable. Instead of connecting the units directly with the contact members as in Fig. 6, relaysintervene, which relays are controlled by the contact members, and whichin turn control the circuit for the units. A source of current 48connects the common conductor 49 with the common spring 41, and betweenthes rings 41*, 41 and 41 and this common condhctor are bridged. relays50, 50 and 50. The relays have the armatures 51*, 51 and 51 and theconductors 52, 52 and 52", these conductors being connected to a commonconductor 53 connected with another source of current 54, which connectswith the conductor 45. Each conductor, as shown in Fig. 6, connects withthe common conduc tors of the field windings. Leading from the armatures51 51 and 51 are the conductors 45 and 45, which connect with the fieldwindings asshown in Fig. 6. With this arrangement, the current flow atthe contact mechanism is constant and ne d be suflicient only to causeproper actuation of the relays 50 and. 50. Upon energization of a relayits armature is attracted and the circuit closed from the main suppl 1battery 54 to the indicating units throng the corres onding conductor.

It will t us be seen that by means of my system .I can synchronouslycontrol any number of time Indicating units from a master clock with anumber of conductors equal only to the sum of the'electro-magnet coilsprovided for each indicating unit,'in addition to one common conductor.In the system illustrated four conductors will supply any number ofindicating units. By means of the contact arrangement, the armatures arealwaIys held magnetically and altsolutely in sync ronism with each otherand every minute are brou ht into synchronism with the master clocE.This, is a distinct improvement over systems of the prior art in Whichthe indicating units are brought into synchronism erhaps only once everyhour. The time in icating' units, therefore, di-

. rectly, at eachdnstant, give thesame time indication as the masterclock.

I do not wish to be limited to the precise construction and arran ementof the partsshown, as changes and modifications can readily .be madewhich will still come within the scope of my invention.

Having. described one modification of my invention, I desire to securethe following claims by United States Letters Patent:

1. In a system of the class described, the

combination of a master clock, a plurality of time indicating units,time indicating meta anism for each unit, armatures for each unit aboutthe armature, contact mechanism driven by the master clock, andelectrical circuits connecting said contact mechanism with saidelectro-magnets, said contacts and mechanism being driven by the clockmechanism to cause the circuits to be affected to cause successiveenergization of the electro magnets of the units whereby the unit timeindicating mechanisms are actuated tov indicate time in accordance withthe time indicated by the master clock.

2. In a system of the class described, the

combination of a master clock, contactmechanism driven by said clock, aplurality of time indicating units, a time indicating mechanism foreach'unit, an armature for each unit connected with the time indicatingmechanism thereof, a plurality of electromagnets for each unit arrangedat regular intervals about the armature so that successive energizationof the electro-magnets will,

causerotation of the armature and actuation of the time indicatingmechanism, current supply conductors leading from the contact mechanismto the units, the electro-magnets of the units being connected in bridgeof the said conductors, and means whereby said contact mechanism willcontrol the current flow through said conductors to cause repeatedsuccessive energization of the electromagnets at the units, whereby thearmatures are driven simultaneously and synchronously, and wherebythetime indicated by the indicating mechanisms will, be in ac cordancewith the time indicated by the master clock.

In a system of the class described, the combination of a master timeindicating instrument, a time indicating unit, time indicating mechanismfor said unit, an armature for said unit connected with the timeindicating mechanism, a plurality of electromagnets arranged about thearmature in regular order to cause rotation of the armature uponsuccessive energization of the electro-m'agnets, contact mechanismdriven by the master instrument, contact sets for said contactmechanism, one for each electromagnet, and circuits connecting saidcontact sets with said e'lectro-magnets, said contact sets uponactuation of'the contact mechanism by the master instrument causing thecircuits to be affected to cause the electromagnets to be repeatedlysuccessively energlzed whereby sald armature is rotated and the timeindicating mechanism actuated to indicate time.

4. In a system of the class described, the

combination of a master timeindicating device a time indicatmg umt, t1memdlcatmg mechan sm for sand umt, an armature connected with saidindicating mechanism,.a

plurality of electro-magnets surrounding the armature, a series ofelectrical switch contacts connected in groups with said electromagnets,a switch member driven by the master time indicating device andcooperating with said contact grou s to control the flow of currentthrough-Sal electro-magnets to cause rotation of thearmature and actua-Vtion of, the time indicating'mechanism toindicate time in accordancewith the time indicated by the master device.

described, the

' ture and actuation of the time indicating mechanism, and means forcausing said time indicating mechanism to indicate time in accordancewith the time indicated by the mas.- ter device. I I 6. in combination,a master indicating mechanism, a plurality of indicating units, aplurality of electro-magnets for each unit, an armature for each unitassociated with said electro-magnets, indicating mechanism for eachindicating unit having connection with the armature, a plurality ofmaincircuits leading from the master indicator to the indicating units andof a number equal to the number of electr'o-magnets er unit, and contactmechanism controlled the master indicator for afiecting said circuits incyclic succession, thereby causing cyclic operation of theelectro-magnets of the units and rotation of the armatures to causesynchronous actuation of the indicating mechanisms in accordance withthe indication of the master indicator.

C 7; In combination,amaster indicator'hav-. mg indicator members, aplurality of indicating units," three electro-magnets for each ceasesunit, an armature associated with said electro-magnet s, indicatingmechanism connected with each armature, contact mechanism controlled bythe master indicator, three main circuits leading from the master indiecator contact-mechanismto the indicating units, and with theelectro-magnets thereat, and means whereby actuation of the contactmechanism by the master indicator will cause said circuits to beeffected in cyclic succession whereby electro-magnets at the units willbe synchronously energized in cyclic s'uccession and whereby thearmatures willbe rotated synchronously to cause the indicating mechanismof the, units to indicate in synchronism with each other and with themaster indicator. 1

8. In combination, a master indicator, a

plurality'of indicator units, indicating mechanism for each unit, anarmatu'i'e for each umt connected with the indicator mechanism, threeelectro-magnets for each unit arranged about the armature, contactmechanism controlled by the master indicator, three conductors leadingfrom said contact mechanism to the units, each conductor being connectedwith one terminal of one of the electro-ma nets of the units, the otherterminal of the electro-magnets at each unit being connected to ether, acommon'conductor leading from t e contact mechanism and connecting withthe other terminals of the electromagnets," a source of current for thecircuits, and means whereby the contact mechanism is operated by themaster indicator to cause said sourceof current to be connectedrepeatedly in successive order with the conductors to cause repeatedcyclic energization of the electro-magnets of the units, thereby causingsynchronous rotation of the unit 'armatures and actuationof theindicating mechanisms of the umts m synchronism with each other and withthe master indicator.

ln'witness whereofl have hereunto subscribed my name, this 23rd day ofJune,

ALBERT A. RADTKE. Witnesses: CHARLES J. SCHMIDT,

Gnonen E. HIGHAM.

